Horsham District passes changes for timing of netball fixtures

GAME CHANGER: Horsham District's A Grade netball games will be the last to be played in 2018. Picture: SAMANTHA CAMARRI

HORSHAM District league will introduce a suite of changes for its netballers next season.

Motions presented to the league’s annual general meeting on Wednesday night called for changes to the flow of game day and the timing of some junior matches.

Pimpinio raised two motions concerning the timing of matches – one applicable for single court clubs and one for multiple court clubs. Club representatives passed the proposals.

The changes mean C Reserve games will be played before C Grade and after under-17s, instead of after A Grade. It means A Grade matches will now start at 3.45pm if the club has one court and 2pm if the club has multiple courts.

“All year, you go from playing C Reserve last and then in finals it’s all in order, so it was felt that it should be in line with finals and everyone should play in the order that they are,” she said.

Representatives shared concerns that by the time C Reserve matches were played, most of the supporters had left.

“C Reserve were playing at 4pm and everyone was gone by then,” Ms Clarkson said.

“A Grade is the premier grade and it draws a crowd regardless of what time they play. It should be played last – just like the football is played in order.”

Also discussed at the meeting was increasing the quarter lengths of the under-15 netball matches to four, 12-minute quarters as opposed to the previous four, 10-minute quarters. The motion, also proposed by Pimpinio, was passed by a vote of 7-5.

Ms Clarkson said the change had been discussed since October.

“The league held a netball season review meeting in October and from that, there was general consensus that the under-15s should come up to the 12-minute quarters to match the 17-and-under grade,” Ms Clarkson said.

“We wanted them to have more court time, giving them more time to develop their skills.”

Pimpinio also raised a similar motion in relation to the NetSetGo age group, which would see Pimpinio NetSetGo match lengths increased from four, seven-minute quarters to four, 10-minute quarters.

Some club representatives at the meeting were under the impression the NetSetGo matches consisted of six, seven-minute periods, but this was quickly shut down by the league’s board.

The motion was defeated, meaning NetSetGo matches will remain at four seven-minute quarters.

“The idea behind (increasing the NetSetGo quarters) was to bring the NetSetGo in line with the higher grades of netball,” Ms Clarkson said.